bbagnall
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2011
- Messages
- 177
Hi! I am Brandy and this is my husband Chris. We live in the San Antonio, Texas area and have been married for 18 years. I am a science teacher and he works for the San Marcos Airport handling private aircraft. It’s just the two of us, no human children, but we do have the fuzzy babies. I wanted to write this because there aren't a lot of these trip reports out there, but the few I did find were extremely helpful so I wanted to pay it forward. Please read on and I hope you enjoy!!!!! Feel free to ask any questions you wish and I'll try my best to answer them.
We decided to take this trip for my 40th birthday. I wanted to do something big so we decided on a cruise to Italy and knew we had to do Disney. This was also a big cruise for us, this would complete our Grand Slam of the Disney ships and when we finished we would be gold! After many days of planning, we decided we would fly in the Wednesday before the cruise with British Airways, spend a day in Barcelona, do private small-group tours (we did not do any Disney Port Adventures), and end with another day in Barcelona. The following items are things that we made sure we brought/or did to make our adventure a little more comfortable and secure.
More to come, so stay tuned!!!!
We decided to take this trip for my 40th birthday. I wanted to do something big so we decided on a cruise to Italy and knew we had to do Disney. This was also a big cruise for us, this would complete our Grand Slam of the Disney ships and when we finished we would be gold! After many days of planning, we decided we would fly in the Wednesday before the cruise with British Airways, spend a day in Barcelona, do private small-group tours (we did not do any Disney Port Adventures), and end with another day in Barcelona. The following items are things that we made sure we brought/or did to make our adventure a little more comfortable and secure.
- Money – The cruise ship operates on the US dollars, but everyone else used Euros. It was much cheaper to get money converted overseas. My super amazing mother in law gave us Euros in advance for birthday gifts so we used that and waited to get overseas before getting more. Our first hotel actually did an exchange for us pretty much at the exchange rate. I asked beforehand and the cruise ship does currency exchange and they will buy back your money at the same rate as long as you have your receipt. We only used our credit cards for the hotels, we used cash for souvenirs/meals/snacks.
- Shoes – You will need super comfortable shoes for walking. I opted for tennis shoes in Pompeii, but sandals everywhere else. The streets are cobblestones and very uneven so thick soled shoes are a must. I found some Vionics at DSW shoe warehouse and wore them everywhere, so comfortable and my feet stayed nice and cool. My husband wore tennis shoes everywhere.
- Clothes – If you are going into the Vatican or any other church in Europe you will need proper attire. This includes clothes that go past the knees and no visible shoulders. I bought a wrap on amazon for $10 I carried in my bag to wrap my shoulders and wore capris/skirts/linen pants on church days. The Vatican was the most strict. I found some people to be “inappropriately” dressed according to posted rules, but I’d rather be safe than turned away. My husband wore pants and polos on church days.
- Safety – We had read reports of a lot of pickpocketing in the Med so we had a plan in advance. My husband got one of the money belts to wear under his clothes and he kept both our passports and a spare credit card in there. I used my ship lanyard and kept a spare credit card and only the money for the day, I tucked it inside my shirt. I carried a shoulder bag with water, my wrap, and some other travel essentials so if my bag was stolen all they would get was some advil and water. I never felt unsafe or hassled. We were approached by two “street performers” at different times but just kept walking, they did not follow.
- Transportation – We used taxis, the Metro and bus in Barcelona, and the train in France to get around. All were super easy to use with fantastic signage. Just keep in mind the train/tram/buses in France only take coins so save your change.
- Restrooms – This was a very interesting experience. If you are visiting a restaurant or buying something at a shop you may use the restroom for free, if not you must pay to use the restroom (again, only coins are accepted). Once you get in there it is a bit of a shock. First of all, there is not a roll of toilet paper, it is kind of like pulling Kleenex (although thicker) out of a dispenser. Secondly, every toilet flushes differently, sometimes there is a button, sometimes a lever, sometimes a sensor, the fun part is finding it. Thirdly, there is soap and water to wash your hands but they only use hand dryers (and not the good ones). I was so excited to get back home and use the restroom!!!!
More to come, so stay tuned!!!!
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